Gig Economy: The New Normal Way of Making a Living

As the “new normal” is being experienced in all parts of the globe due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, gig economy might have a bigger role in the coming future.

A big portion of businesses from tourism, food, clothing, leisure, and others all have declared bankruptcy mainly because they cannot sustain the losses that the pandemic had given them. Many companies were also forced to lay off some of their employees for the duration of COVID-19.

Meanwhile in the Philippines, gig economy is offering opportunities digitally especially for people who had lost their day jobs because of the pandemic.

Senator Sonny Angara said that until a vaccine is distributed to the public and the quarantines fully lifted, gig economy will definitely play a bigger role in the economy.

Angara has also filed the Bill 1469 or known as the National Digital Careers Act.

“We are seeing the growth of the so-called gig economy in the country and with the extended period of the lockdown being implemented because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Angara.

In today’s time, gig economy is safer and more comfortable as people will have to work at their homes and avoid the public, which has a great risk of catching COVID-19.

Common current gig economy jobs in the Philippines are food delivery, courier services, disinfecting services, transportation services and much more.

According to Paypal’s 2018 global freelancer reports, 22 countries have high percentage of gig economy. The Philippines has one of the highest number of freelancers with 2% or around 2 million Filipinos.

Aside from the mentioned jobs above, other digital jobs such as online teaching, content creation, designing, hosting and more are some of the opportunites that people might look into. (MLC)